Cats, kitties, and more cats!

Big Changes:

First 

 The reason I have not been blogging.  We had two family members pass away within two days.

The first was a shock as we did not know how sick my ex-husband was.  Here he is in this photo back in 1995 with the birth of our 2nd grandchild.  Our son and daughter in the photo as well.

A week at the most before he passed away we found out that his illnesses over the last year turned out to be end stage liver disease.  He had a cough for months that he tried to get rid of with medication and Nebulizer machine to deliver the mist for asthma.  He was a long time sufferer of Diabetes.  He was in the hospital for a week then came home a day and then back to the hospital.  There was nothing to do for him except make him comfortable.  He passed away a month after his 68th Birthday on August 17, 2014. It has been very difficult for the kids and his 2nd wife.  

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The other death happened two days later.  This one we expected. My 2nd daughter's ex husband had been diagnosed with lung cancer.  We knew that he did not have much time left.   It was very difficult for their two sons and his stepson as well as for my daughter.  

One thing she and I found out - even though they were our ex-husbands we felt very much as a lot of people feel when their spouse passes away.  

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Crafting!

Back to crafting and other things!

So Cats, kitties and more cats!

I had mentioned before that I was going to start using Aida cloth that was size 7. That is pretty much the same grid size as regular plastic canvas or 7 holes per square inch.  Most Aida cloth patterns are for size 10 to 14.  I have done these in the past and here are my past Aida cloth projects:

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The first cats are the ones I have made in the last 4 months.  The first of the Aida cloth in size 7 is this cat!  Specifically "Grumpy Cat!"  

This is the pattern. The print out is for size 14 Aida cloth! I knew it would work fine for size 7 Aida cloth.  There was no actual color code for this pattern. So I had to use what I had on hand and purchased.  I used all six strands of DMC floss.

                         Here is the outline and eyes done.

                          Finished with the word "Whatever."

                               Close up of "Grumpy Cat!"

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Another Grumpy Cat

Almost done. The rest of the cat is white, so it is hard to see where I have left off, but the remainder is going to be white.  I am making several more for family and friends!  

More Kitties!

I found this pattern on Pinterest. It actually was in Russian!  Easy to see what was what on the pattern.  The tail in the original pattern was as large/wide as the legs. I wanted the tail to be thinner. So I enlarged the pattern by cutting out the original print and adding 1 inch to the outline.  I used felt for the eyes on this one as well as felt for the face and nose.  I embroidered the whiskers.

      

   After I finished it I realized I forgot to add the claws!

So I cut out more and also cut out the claws in white felt.  I did not like the face so I decided to just have the nose and eyes felt on the second and third ones.

I was not real happy with those either so the black and white ones and the pink ones just have puffy paint for the eyes nose and whiskers.

                     

 So I added the eyes and nose.   I need to add the wiggly eyes and whiskers next.  Then they will be done.

My cats!

 So this is Batman and Robin now just over one years old! They always sleep like this on my bed. My Mom crocheted that Afghan back in the 1970's!

Robin now sports a Blue collar. He likes to get my attention by sitting on the keyboard of the computer!

Batman sports a silver collar now and he loves to look out the window. I love the way the sun shone on his whiskers!

That is the update for now. Next blog update will be about moving day!  I will also have a blog about my trip to Washington state for the reunion.  We got home from the reunion and that is when my ex husband passed away - so I did not make the blog about the reunion with my Grand kids and 2 daughters.   So I will work on that!

I will be glad to email any of the patterns from any of my projects. Just ask me for which one you want and your email address.    :D

And last but not least: Inspiration

An awesome Poet Artist from Canada has this awesome website. Go see it at        Above The Rayn